Aleksandr Demyanenko

Aleksandr Sergeievich Demyanenko (Russian: Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Демья́ненко; May 30, 1937 – August 22, 1999) was a Russianfilm and theater actor. He was given the honorary distinction of People's Artist of the RSFSR. He began his acting career with the film Veter in 1958, and is well known for playing the character Shurik in a number of films, beginning with the 1965 comedy Operation Y and Other Shurik's Adventures, and ending with the 1997 film Old Songs of the Main Things 2.

Life and career

Early life

Aleksandr Demyanenko was born in Sverdlovsk, Soviet Union in 1937. Aleksandr's mother, Galina Belkova was an accountant. His father, Sergei Petrovich, was an actor who graduated from the Lunacharsky State Institute for Theatre Arts. Sergei later worked as a director at the Sverdvlosk Opera Theatre, and as a child Aleksandr played bit parts at the theatre. Aleksandr attended a theater workshop at the Palace of Culture and parallel to that he studied piano at a music school. He also learned foreign languages with an emphasis on German in middle school and in high school started to sing in a baritone.[1][2] In 1954 he began to study jurisprudence at the Sverdlovsk University of Law, but was expelled from the first semester for skipping lessons.[3] In 1954 he failed to get into the Moscow Art Theatre, however in 1955 he was accepted both at the Lunacharsky State Institute for Theatre Arts and at the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute in Moscow. He ended up choosing Lunacharsky.[4]

Acting career

In 1958 he was cast in the film Veter (Russian: Ветер). In 1959 he graduated from the Lunacharsky State Institute for Theatre Arts theatre acting school. He then worked in the Mayakovsky Theater in Moscow. In 1959 he starred in Everything Begins with Hitting the Road.

In 1961 Aleksandr Demyanenko moved to Leningrad and became staff actor at Lenfilm studio. There he starred in the film Grown-Up Children. He then went on to play in A Night Before Christmas, Peace to Him Who Enter and was cast for the title role in Dima Gorin's Career. In 1962 he starred in A Trip Without a Load and Bang the Drum. In 1963 he starred in Cheka Employee, The First Trolleybus and Cain XVIII. In 1964 he starred in The Returned Music and State Offender.

In 1965 he was cast for the role of Shurik in the classic Soviet comedy Operation Y and Other Shurik's Adventures. This role earned Demyanenko the image of nerdystudent Shurik ("Shurik" being a diminutive form of the name Aleksandr). In 1966 he starred in the semi-sequel to the film Kidnapping, Caucasian Style.[5] In 1967, he starred in the film War Under the Roofs and in 1968 in The Dead Season. In 1969 he starred in Tomorrow, April 3 and The Ugryum River. In 1971 he starred in Dauria. In 1972 he starred in Hello and Goodbye and The Singing Teacher.

In 1973 he once again reunited with Leonid Gaidai to star in the film Ivan Vasilyevich: Back to the Future where he plays a scientist named Shurik who invents a time machine.[6] Demyanenko was unable to gain popularity for other roles as he was typecast as a scientist due to his tremendous popularity as the nerdy, crime-fighting student Shurik.[7][8][9] He frequently provided voice-overs for foreign and domestic films, and even Donatas Banionis admitted that his dubbing was an improvement over his original acting.[10][9]

Later years

He appeared in the television movie Old Songs of the Main Things 2 in 1997 playing an aged Shurik. He had a brief role in the TV series Strawberry and reprised his famous role of the nerdy professor in Old Songs of the Main Things 3 in 1998.

Personal life

His first marriage was to Marina Sklyarova with whom he went to acting classes.[8]
He divorced Sklyarova when he became involved with voice-over director from Lenfilm Liudmila Demyanenko. She became his second wife and they remained married until his death.[12][11][13] He became the stepfather to her daughter Angelica Nevolina, who later became an actress.[14]

External links

A Bright Personality or (Russian: Светлая личность, translit. Svetlaya lichnost) is a 1988 fantastic satirical comedy based on the works of Ilf and Petrov, directed by Alexander Pavlovsky at the Odessa film studio. The film consists of two parts: the "Dark Past" and "Bright Future".

A Trip Without a Load (Russian: Порожний рейс, translit. Porozhniy reys) is a 1962 Soviet drama film directed by Vladimir Vengerov. It was entered into the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival where it won a Silver Prize.

Entrance to the Labyrinth (Russian: Вход в лабиринт, translit. Vkhod v labirint) is a 1989 Soviet five-episode television crime film directed by Valeriy Kremnev based on the Vayner Brothers novel Medicine against Fear.

Failure of Engineer Garin (Russian: Крах инженера Гарина, translit. Krakh inzhenera Garina) is a 1973 Soviet television film in four parts loosely based on a novel Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin by Alexei Tolstoy. Produced by Lenfilm by the order of Gosteleradio of USSR

Farewell to St. Petersburg Russian: Прощание с Петербургом, translit. Proshchaniye s Peterburgom is a 1972 Soviet biopic film directed by Yan Frid. The film is about the Austrian composer Johann Strauss's stay in Russia, his concerts in Pavlovsk in the summer of 1857, and his love towards the Russian aristocrat Olga Smirnitskiy, to whom he dedicated several works.

King Lear (Russian: Король Лир, translit. Korol Lir) is a 1971 Soviet drama film directed by Grigori Kozintsev, based on William Shakespeare's play King Lear. The Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich composed the score.

Kinostudiya "Lenfilm" (Russian: Киностудия Ленфильм) was a production unit of the Cinema of the Soviet Union, with its own film studio, located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, formerly Leningrad, R.S.F.S.R. Today OAO "Kinostudiya Lenfilm" is a corporation with its stakes shared between private owners and several private film studios, which are operating on the premises. Since October 2012, the Chairman of the board of directors is Fyodor Bondarchuk.

Peace to Him Who Enters (Russian: Мир входящему, translit. Mir vkhodyashchemu) is a 1961 Soviet drama film written and directed by Aleksandr Alov and Vladimir Naumov. Set in World War II, it tells the story of three Soviet soldiers who try to rescue a trapped pregnant German woman by taking her on a dangerous drive to a hospital.

The Trust That Went Bust (Russian: Трест, который лопнул; Trest, kotoryy lopnul) is a Soviet 1983 musical TV miniseries (total runtime 196 min) based on short stories by O. Henry: "The Octopus Marooned", "Jeff Peters as a Personal Magnet", "Modern Rural Sports", "The Hand That Riles the World", "The Exact Science of Matrimony", and "The Ethics of Pig". Directed by Aleksandr Pavlovsky. Screenplay by Igor Shevtsov

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